What is Naturopathy?

Naturopathy

Naturopathy, or Naturopathic medicine, is about 100 years old. Naturopathy is a holistic system, concerned with the whole person, rather than just focusing on the problems/symptoms afflicting the various organs and systems.

Naturopathic medicine is a distinct health care system that blends modern scientific knowledge with traditional and natural forms of medicine. Though diagnostically naturopathy is a lot like conventional medicine, it differs in the types of treatment used. Naturopathic physicians do not use drugs, medical technology, or major surgery to treat a patient. Instead, they use natural therapeutics such as nutritional supplements, herbal remedies, homeopathy, and acupuncture.

The main goal of Naturopathy is to use the natural healing power of the body to fight disease. The Naturopathic practitioner recognizes and uses the fact that the body is a self-healing organism. Understanding that if the right environment and opportunity for self-healing can be created, repair, recovery and good health will result spontaneously and ill-health will be prevented.

Naturopath can be used to treat a broad spectrum of health issues; ranging from paediatric to geriatric and from physical illness to psychological illness. Naturopathy is known to be beneficial for the following types of patients:

Those who want to be pro-active with their health, seeking disease prevention and health promotion strategies.

Those who have a range of symptoms that they have been unable to address on their own or with the help of other medical practitioners.

Those who have had an illness diagnosed, even of a serious or chronic nature and are looking for alternative treatments.

Those who are looking for complementary treatment to combine with their conventional treatment regime in order to minimize the side effects of drugs or surgery.